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An animal rights group has been told it can no longer use the claim ‘wool is just as cruel as fur’ in advertising, following a complaint from a Farmers Guardian journalist.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been told the advert must not appear again in its current form.

FG journalist Alex Black and nine others others challenged whether the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) advert, which appeared on the side of buses in February, was misleading as sheep needed to be shorn for health reasons.

Claims

PETA said over the last few decades the general public had become aware of cruelty in the fur trade.

But it claimed the ‘same abuses and suffering’ had been documented in the wool trade. It also showed links o reports detailing incidences of abuse to sheep, often during the shearing process claiming it was undeniable cruelty existed in the wool industry in the same way as the fur industry.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) highlighted the advert was presented as a factual claim and direct comparison between the two industries but said sheep were not killed for their wool as animals in the fur industry were and there were standards in place to prevent cruelty to sheep.

“We therefore concluded on that basis that the claim was misleading and in breach of the Code,” it said.

National Sheep Association (NSA) chief executive Phil Stocker said NSA was pleased to see this issue being addressed.

Agenda

“It is wrong that organisations with an anti-livestock agenda present such inaccurate information as factual and it unnecessarily damages reputations and livelihoods.

“The properties of wool should be celebrated and promoted for being naturally renewable, climate friendly, highly efficient, and simply ‘nice’ – not to mention that sheep have to be shorn annually to maintain their welfare.”